cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5774540
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ICanStopTheRain on 2025-05-07 03:51:37+00:00.
Original Title: TIL that in 1975, after Gillette introduced a two-blade cartridge razor, Saturday Night Live aired a fake commercial for a three-blade razor. Gillette introduced one in 1998. In 2004, a satirical article in The Onion introduced a fictional five-blade razor. A real five-blade razor came out in 2006.
I get by with a single blade no problem. Hot water rinse —> lather with bar soap —> shave with razor - first with the grain, then against the grain —> apply aftershave, letting it soak in —> apply moisturizer to shaved portions after showering.
That sounds exhausting
I just use my safety razor in the shower with conditioner. It’s easier than a cartridge razor, shaves much better, and it so much cheaper it’s laughable.
It’s meditative, really.
You don’t really think about all the small steps you do in other activities. You just follow the muscle memory you’ve built up. It’s the same deal for shaving.
Most of that you do for regular shaving too. Just instead of canned soap you make lather. If you want to be lazy theres great shaving cream in a tube from Cremo you can skip the lathering step.
Lathering soap with a firm board bristle brush also exfilulates and scrubs your skin. Feels amazing after.
I do the entire routine and it’s very relaxing to do a full shave with good gear. I switched 10 years ago and saved sooooo much money.
You can get started for $30-$50 to get a safety razor, cremo and a variety pack of blades. You won’t look back. Quick and easy shaving. Slap on soap and learn your face angles. It really is muscle memory.
Men when routine takes longer than 5 seconds
Always hated regular shaving because no matter how close the shave was it was stubbly in a few hours. I grew a goatee because I haged shaving my chin area. A decade later I started growing a beard of somewhere between a quarter inch to an inch in the winter to keep my face warm.
Now I have that short beard year round and occasionally shave the neck when it gets itchy. So much less work, it honestly feels pretty nice to have that little layer of hair keeping my skin an even temp.
Hooray for less effort!
I just work from home and don’t leave the house
Reading all that was a good reminder of why I stopped shaving…
Yes, shaving is a chore - when you have to do it on a daily basis.
As a professional bald fart for more than 15 years, one of the reasons I’m thankful to be able to work from home is that I no longer need to shave head+beard on a daily basis. I really dislike the “shade” so always tried to shave as close to the skin as possible, which took me up to half an hour. Now that I have a job I get to look like one of those wojak characters with aggressive baldness and not worry about shaving for days.
Granted, with a safety razor that time came down to like 20-25 minutes and got less nicks than with a disposable razor. But when I had the chance to get a Leaf razor that came down to 15-20 minutes and never got nicks again. And with that one it’s like the best of the two worlds - multiple blades to speed and make easier the shaving process and the non-disposable razor with real cheap and superb blades.
Kinda the same with my safety razor, I do a hot water plus soap rinse -> shaving gel made for intimate use -> Shave with the grain (Gets close enough for me)-> Apply alum stone as aftershave -> Clean razor -> Rinse face -> Moisturise if necessary.
As long as I rinse the razor properly after shaving I get away with switching blades once a month or so and I got a 200pc Mühle Stainless Steel pack for ~50 euro back when I bought my razor. The alum stone looks barely used. I’m never going back to cartridge razors.
Blades vary greatly between brands. Get a sampler pack from eBay to find ones you like. Then buy them in bulk. 100 blades will generally cost from $8-$14, depending on the brand. Some, like Feather, are more expensive.
I might be a fool but I don’t mind paying €51.95 for a 200 pack when the manufacturing is in Germany.
If there was any manufacturing of blades in Sweden I would probably buy those unless the price or quality is way different but all I can find is china manufactured blades with “Swedish stainless steel” such as Rockwell.
I cannot express adequately how different blades are from each other. Some are smoother than others, some are sharper and some improve after a few uses. Some last longer.
I have fairly fine whiskers, so I don’t need a crazy sharp blade like Feather. My skin is also a bit sensitive, so a smooth blade is best.
For me Big Ben, blades made by Lord in Egypt are really good. One of the versions of Shark, also made by Lord are pretty good too.
I find Wilkenson Sword blades to be horribly scratchy, and the name for some of the Gillette blades. Voskhod aren’t bad, except they are Russian.
You don’t realize how different they are until you try.
I got a sample pack of about 200 when I first purchased my safety razor like 10 years ago as well. I got about 20 left. It’s crazy how cheap it all is.